Poker as a job, side gig or semi-retirement hobby.

[Dobbler1]

I'm thinking about big things like my career and future, so of course I thought I'd ask random strangers on the internet about it.😆

About me and my situation: I'm in my mid 50s, I've had a "proper" career in sales, and if push comes to shove I could return to it to pay the bills. The part of the market where I worked has changed to the point that I no longer like the line of work I used to love. I don't have the amount of savings a person usually wants to retire, but I have some savings. My wife is working, and while her wage isn't going to make us rich, it'll pay the bills. I trained as an actor. When I was in my 20s I thought I might be a professional actor, but for many reasons (most related to how difficult it is to make money in that industry) I stopped pursuing that goal fairly early. I did lots of unpaid acting work for the enjoyment in the ensuing years, and I'm at least pretty good at it. I also love poker. I'm confident that I at least have a good grasp of the fundamentals, and granted I need to keep working on lots of aspects of my game, my obvious weakness is my mental game, patience and consistency, to the degree that even at the lowest stakes I have a tough time doing better than break-even so far.

Here's the situation I find myself in. I can spend time and energy pursuing an acting career, which is a sort of a gamble in itself. There's a tiny chance that could end up being very lucrative, a small chance that it ends up paying decently, and a good chance that it ends up bringing in the same or less than a job flipping burgers. In contrast, I can spend my time and energy focusing on poker. I feel like if I can get my mental game sorted, which... not there yet, but I really think I can, I should be at least be a consistently winning micro-stakes player. If that's the best I can ever do, then we're still in the burger flipping range of income, but I think it's likely I could move up stakes at least a little, and maybe even become a legitimately good player. I really love doing both, though in really different ways.

I'm curious what people's thoughts are. Have you made a career out of poker? Is it a side-gig or just a hobby that might bring in or cost a few bucks? What do you think you'd do in my shoes, and why?

I know this forum rewards post quantity over quality, but I'd love it if you could leave a thoughtful response rather than a drive-by comment.

 

[Quaresma]

Definitely poker as a job, focusing on the long term to have a good retirement. I maintain a routine of eight hours of play per day. I confess that I need to study more than I have been doing lately. I'm currently facing difficulties to climb the bank but I know it's temporary.

 

[BOXING71]

To be honest, I think making money in poker is like a fluke. Although our knowledge, patience and everything else matters. If you are lucky and you rise to a high level, then good money in your favorite game will be a reward. I listen to my heart, if I want to sing, I sing ,play I play.You are creativepersonality, maybe God has a better plan for you. But all the answers are only in your heart....

 

[spunka]

If you have doubt about your mental side towards poker, you should be very carefull to take it on as a count into your permanent income, as you no matter how much you train and how god your game is, you will run into downswings, and that will affect your life and family if it a income you could get secure else where without any risk for down swings, also playing poker might not hold the same esteem towards your friends and family as it for them are gambling. I think you should take it on side and build a bankroll big enough to play at least 100 * buyin and on top of the the same amount to have if things go bad.

I do not know if you get any social benefices when your not working, if you that would help a lot, of not I think acting or flipping burger is better for a “steady” income.

If you get social benefits will you are not working, you could try out poker, I personal did that for a while and it went very well.

 

[benitwapasu]

I think I would opt for a third choice and that is work part time at a job that brings in a guaranteed paycheck and then play poker a bit on the side

 

[Rachidao]

Hobby with some extra money.

 

[pavel1111111]

just a hobby ...for me ...but good luck to you guys and girls an make it ..

 

[Mimo..Mach]

Taking poker as the only way to make money to 'pay the bills' is definitely not a good idea and I don't even consider it a 'side job'. I think that it should be taken as a hobby in which you can earn money (and lose it, obviously). Care must be taken to 'invest' money that compromises you and your family thinking that you can earn more. There are real stories of people who have made a living from poker but investigate those who have lost their lives for not knowing how to manage their earnings with this game. You should open an academy where you teach others for a small payment your knowledge as an actor and with respect to Poker continue learning to improve your game and have fun to earn good money but do not compromise your finances.

 

[testing826]

yes retirement job as everything is getting too high to buy

 

[eberetta1]

It would take a lot of stress off your wife if you started bringing in money today, instead of the some time down the road mentality.

I play poker for side money, but a side job would pay way more to help the family. I have bank, but even so poker pays me so little, I find other ways to make money on the side such as playing games on the phone and sportsbetting.

During these times with shortages of workers and starting pay over $10 an hour no reason not to get in 20 hours a week and use that to get you a decent bankroll for a semi retirement career, maybe even acting which you seem to enjoy, or to have bank for poker progression to higher stakes because 1 c 2c tables dont cut it if you want to bring in over $1000 over the year.

 

[hamon08]

For me, poker is now an additional income and a hobby, but I hope that in the future this game will become my main income. I play 4-5 hours a day, several days a week, and I try to study theory, analyze hands and watch training videos at the same time, I think it will help me and my dream will come true.

 

[Rost]

I have not made a career in poker and do not plan to make one. For me, poker is just entertainment. However, I know that poker can be a source of additional income, and in fact, each of us can become a professional player if there is such a desire and there is a willingness to work to achieve this ambitious goal.

 

[eduardo8269]

I haven't made a career in poker and I don't intend to. For me, poker is just entertainment, but it's always about profit.

 

[MK_]

I going to tell you the truth which you won't like and will ignore...... pipe dreams are for kids, get a real job and make as much money as you can now, .... yes poker is both a hobby and extra money but I don't live on that, gl

 

[wavetune]

I work, and of course I would also like to sit at home and earn money instead of 10 hours at work, but the reality is that making poker a career and starting to earn money from poker is not easy at all, for me, I have a different character set, and thinking, if it were so easy-to sit on the couch and earn money with poker, no one would go to work at the factory, you are an adult, it's up to you, of course, and no one here is an adviser to you, but it seems you are a little disconnected from reality, if everything is fine with your physical health, it's not clear to me why you don't work, especially in canada where is a decent wage, and you want to earn as much money on micro-limits in an evening as you can earn in an hour of work, I would understand if you lived in some poor country, but living in a developed country....
In any case, it's up to you to decide, good luck in your poker career

 

[Dobbler1]

I work, and of course I would also like to sit at home and earn money instead of 10 hours at work, but the reality is that making poker a career and starting to earn money from poker is not easy at all, for me, I have a different character set, and thinking, if it were so easy-to sit on the couch and earn money with poker, no one would go to work at the factory, you are an adult, it's up to you, of course, and no one here is an adviser to you, but it seems you are a little disconnected from reality, if everything is fine with your physical health, it's not clear to me why you don't work, especially in Canada where is a decent wage, and you want to earn as much money on micro-limits in an evening as you can earn in an hour of work, I would understand if you lived in some poor country, but living in a developed country....
In any case, it's up to you to decide, good luck in your poker career

Calling someone out of touch with reality is a kind of insulting thing to say. What exactly do you think I'm out of touch with?

 

[wavetune]

Calling someone out of touch with reality is a kind of insulting thing to say. What exactly do you think I'm out of touch with?

I do not offend anyone, and even more so I do not see any reason to offend you, but if in your imagination I have offended you, you can complain about me, and the reality is that, as you say, to pay utility bills, then you need to work for this..

 

[Dobbler1]

I do not offend anyone, and even more so I do not see any reason to offend you, but if in your imagination I have offended you, you can complain about me, and the reality is that, as you say, to pay utility bills, then you need to work for this..

If you read my post, you'd see that I don't need to work to pay my bills. I understand that most people don't have that luxury, but the post isn't about most people, it's about me.

 

[wavetune]

If you read my post, you'd see that I don't need to work to pay my bills. I understand that most people don't have that luxury, but the post isn't about most people, it's about me.

yes, few people in the world can afford such luxury - not to work and live, you're right, I congratulate you, sincerely

 

[Cooking]

I think you need to ask yourself, which one do you like more? Play poker or be an actor? If you have an answer for this question then you have the decision. Also, it was not clear for me, do you need to have a regular income in the future or can you spend a couple of months or even a year without a salary?
If I was in your shoes and let's say I like poker and acting the same way and I don't need to bring money every month, I would consider the financial part. And in my opinion there's more chance to win money playing poker than being a beginner actor. At least in my country, it's not easy to start a new carrer after 50 years and in poker you don't have that restriction.

 

[efranto2286]

Hello community, I respect each of your opinions, for me poker is just a fun pastime in which I get extra money that I like very much and it also relaxes me to play...

 

[BLMonteiro]

I'm thinking about big things like my career and future, so of course I thought I'd ask random strangers on the internet about it.😆

About me and my situation: I'm in my mid 50s, I've had a "proper" career in sales, and if push comes to shove I could return to it to pay the bills. The part of the market where I worked has changed to the point that I no longer like the line of work I used to love. I don't have the amount of savings a person usually wants to retire, but I have some savings. My wife is working, and while her wage isn't going to make us rich, it'll pay the bills. I trained as an actor. When I was in my 20s I thought I might be a professional actor, but for many reasons (most related to how difficult it is to make money in that industry) I stopped pursuing that goal fairly early. I did lots of unpaid acting work for the enjoyment in the ensuing years, and I'm at least pretty good at it. I also love poker. I'm confident that I at least have a good grasp of the fundamentals, and granted I need to keep working on lots of aspects of my game, my obvious weakness is my mental game, patience and consistency, to the degree that even at the lowest stakes I have a tough time doing better than break-even so far.

Here's the situation I find myself in. I can spend time and energy pursuing an acting career, which is a sort of a gamble in itself. There's a tiny chance that could end up being very lucrative, a small chance that it ends up paying decently, and a good chance that it ends up bringing in the same or less than a job flipping burgers. In contrast, I can spend my time and energy focusing on poker. I feel like if I can get my mental game sorted, which... not there yet, but I really think I can, I should be at least be a consistently winning micro-stakes player. If that's the best I can ever do, then we're still in the burger flipping range of income, but I think it's likely I could move up stakes at least a little, and maybe even become a legitimately good player. I really love doing both, though in really different ways.

I'm curious what people's thoughts are. Have you made a career out of poker? Is it a side-gig or just a hobby that might bring in or cost a few bucks? What do you think you'd do in my shoes, and why?

I know this forum rewards post quantity over quality, but I'd love it if you could leave a thoughtful response rather than a drive-by comment.

For me, poker is a hobby. Doing a job is already more complicated, they require many things and above all self-control.

 

[Station_Master]

Your options need to be mutually exclusive, you could work part time for example and spend more time on poker or acting.

On the poker, personally I would want to at least be beating microstakes and low stakes before turning it into a career, whereas it sounds that you hope to beat microstakes with some work. You could make a decent side income from poker and then concentrate on it full time once you are making a good hourly rate., I.e. once you know you can make a decent income. It's not easy to grind a decent living from poker!

 

[limon931407]

poker is a good hobby that can bring you a good income and have a good time, but always with a win, there is also a chance to lose

 

[C1ownSue]

It depends on what you yourself put into this designation, etc.
In my opinion, which may differ from other opinions, and this is normal, but you can say that poker is work if:
1) You spend more time on it than anything else
2) This is your main source of income.

In other cases, you can call the poker game whatever you like.